Shangri-La’s dark spot

21 September 2016

Bhutan, often referred to as “Shangri-la” by the western world has a gory past – it once forced over 75,000 Nepali-speaking people, the Lhotshampas, to leave. They languished in refugee camps in eastern Nepal for over 20 years as protracted talks between Nepal and Bhutan never reached a solution. Meanwhile, their population increased and their […]

Bhutan, often referred to as “Shangri-la” by the western world has a gory past – it once forced over 75,000 Nepali-speaking people, the Lhotshampas, to leave. They languished in refugee camps in eastern Nepal for over 20 years as protracted talks between Nepal and Bhutan never reached a solution. Meanwhile, their population increased and their difficulties multiplied. Finally, the US and several other Western nations, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, started resettling them in their own countries. This week, the 90,000th refugee resettled in the US. However Bhutan was never held responsible for the genocidal eviction of about 15 percent of the country’s population, which amounts to a ‘crime against humanity’. About 15,000 refugees are still living in two camps in Nepal and are faced with an uncertain future.

Meanwhile, in response to a letter from the US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Bhutan’s Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay has ruled out any possibility of repatriation. Premier Tobgay has also ruled out the possibility of allowing refugees to return and reunite with their families still living in Bhutan. While the international media was happy to treat Bhutan as the country with the alternate development model of ‘Gross National Happiness’, Himal Southasian pursued this issue with in-depth reporting.